But it's the plot of "The Woodcutter" (Harper), the new novel by Reginald Hill, the devilishly clever British crime writer best known for his Dalziel and Pascoe series. In the latter, two detectives — one fat, one thin, both very good at their jobs — have solved dozens of knotty murders in a series that also was turned into popular BBC presentations.

"The Woodcutter" marks a change for Hill. It seems to march forth from the sticky mists and dark superstitions of Britain's Cumbria region, a rugged land in the northwest part of the nation known for its forbidding mountains and cold, savage beauty. Wilfred Hadda — nicknamed Wolf, a nimble climber who's a whiz with an ax — emerges from this dramatic place and builds a vast business empire.

One day, with no warning, Wolf is arrested, tossed in jail and later convicted of heinous crimes. He spends the next several years being examined by a prison psychiatrist who can't be sure if Wolf is the innocent victim of a smear campaign or the canniest criminal she has ever met.

Hill is not an inspired prose stylist — his writing is serviceable, not sigh-inducing — yet he's a nifty plotter who switches points of view and locales often enough to keep the tension on the upswing.

By the end — and it's quite a long journey, because "The Woodcutter" weighs in at 519 pages — everything makes a crooked kind of sense. You'll be able to sort the good guys from the bad.

But in which category does Wolf belong?

You must read the novel to find out — while keeping an eye peeled for the high arc of a hungry ax, wielded by a man understandably bent on vengeance.